Charles Raper Jonas (December 9, 1904 – September 28, 1988) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

for ten terms (1953–1973). At the time of his election in 1952, he became the first Republican to represent his state in either house of the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

since his own father, Charles A. Jonas, and George M. Pritchard left office in 1931.

Life and career

Jonas was born and grew up in

Lincolnton, North Carolina Lincolnton is a city in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States within the Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 11,091 at the 2020 census, with an estimated population of 12,128, as of 2023. Lincolnton is northwest of Charlo ...

, where he attended public schools, which were then racially segregated. He graduated from Lincolnton High School in 1921, where he was voted "Best All Around Member of his Senior Class". He graduated from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

with an AB degree in 1925 and a Juris Doctor with high honors in 1928. As an undergraduate, he was president of the Dialectic Society (1925) and the Monogram Club, and was president of the Class of 1925. In law school, he was student body president in 1926 and founded the school's

College Republicans College Republicans is an umbrella term that describes college and university students who support the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) is the oldest campus- ...

chapter in 1927. He was editor-in-chief of the ''North Carolina Law Review'' from 1927 to 1928 and a member of the Order of the Coif. After graduating from law school, he entered into the law practice of his father, Charles A. Jonas. The firm was renamed as Jonas and Jonas in 1928. His father had been the first Republican elected from North Carolina to serve in Congress in the twentieth century following the disenfranchisement of African Americans by a new suffrage amendment in 1900, which cut them out of the political system and reduced membership in the Republican Party. Jonas later was a Republican candidate for the U. S. Senate, but the state legislature chose a Democratic candidate. The younger Jonas entered the National Guard for the state. From 1931 to 1932, Jonas served briefly as an appointed

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the Western District of North Carolina. In September 1940 he was called to active service as a member of the North Carolina

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Judge Advocate General's Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG or JAG Corps) is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judge advocates ...

, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1945. While later serving in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the North Carolina National Guard, Jonas reached the rank of brigadier general. He was a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, serving as president, 1946–1957. He also served on the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners, 1948–1949. While in Congress, Jonas served for nearly two decades, from 1954 to 1972, on the important

House Appropriations Committee The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Co ...

. During this period, the committee cut more than $93 billion from budgets proposed by four presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Jonas signed onto the 1956

Southern Manifesto The Declaration of Constitutional Principles (known informally as the Southern Manifesto) was a document written in February and March 1956, during the 84th United States Congress, in opposition to racial integration of public places. The manife ...

that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

'' and voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, as well as the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...

. He did support the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution though. Jonas' long and pioneering service to the Republican Party in North Carolina and his efforts to make North Carolina a competitive two-party state, earned him the nickname, "Mr. Republican". He retired in 1972, declining to run for an eleventh term. The General Assembly of North Carolina passed a joint resolution in 1991 honoring the life of Jonas "former Congressman and 'Mister Republican.'"Jonas lived most of his life in

Legacy and honors

*The public library in

, is named in his honor. *The federal building in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, is named for him, as is a section of North Carolina Highway 27. This highway connects Charlotte to cities to its north, including Jonas's hometown of Lincolnton. *His home at Lincolnton, Shadow Lawn, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1972.

References

External links

Congressional Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonas, Charles Raper 1904 births 1988 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Assistant United States attorneys United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps North Carolina lawyers People from Lincolnton, North Carolina United States Army generals University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of North Carolina School of Law alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina 20th-century American lawyers Signatories of the Southern Manifesto 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives